Loom cloth roll



Dec. 9, 1969 J. A. VILLANI ET 1. 3,482,607

' LOOM CLOTH ROLL Filed April 30, 1968 F- INVENTOR .2 JoHNAVuLAm BY ARTHURSWILSON ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,482,607 LOOM CLOTH ROLL John A. Villani, Milford, and Arthur S. Wilson, Hopedale, Mass., assignors to North American Rockwell Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 30, 1968, Ser. No. 725,349 Int. Cl. D03d 49/20; B65h 17/02 U.S. Cl. 139-304 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A loom cloth roll on which fabric is wound as it is taken up in a loom having insertable bearing members disposed in openings of conforming configuration in the ends thereof with cap members adapted to encompass the ends of said roll for fixedly positioning said bearings therein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a cloth roll such as is used for winding up newly formed fabric in a loom.

Fabric as it is formed on a loom is moved by a takeup mechanism over guiding surfaces, take-up and guide rolls or the like and thence caused to be wound upon a cloth roll as is well known in the weaving art.

The cloth roll is driven at a predetermined speed to receive the fabric and when it has its full compliment wound thereon it is removed from the loom and replaced with another roll.

Cloth rolls of the prior art to which the instant invention is an improvement are elongated wooden cylindrical members having metallic cap members forming the ends thereof. These cap members are in cup form and are adapted to fixedly asseble over the ends of the cloth roll which are of a reduced diameter to conform with the inside diameter of said caps.

The opposed ends of the caps are provided with square openings and when in position in a loom, right and left hand cloth roll shafts with gudgeon-like ends having a configuration conforming to the openings in said caps are adapted to be received by the latter for supporting the cloth roll.

One of the cloth roll shafts is mechanically linked to the well known mecahnism for rotating the cloth roll and the other is spring biased in the direction of the coth roll at the opposite end thereof.

By simply moving the cloth roll longitudinally in the direction of the spring biased shaft it is easily removed from the loom and replaceable with another all of which is well known to those conversant in the art.

United States Patent 1,865,118 illustrates the. mechanism for supporting and rotating a cloth roll according to the instant invention in a loom and from the description above the ease of its removal and assembly are readily apparent.

The square openings in the end caps provide the bearing surfaces of supporting and rotating the cloth roll by means of the gudgeon-like ends of the cloth roll shafts. The end caps are formed from sheet material and the relatively thin section of the openings does not provide desirable bearing surfaces for certain types of weaves, particularly the heavier and tighter types, such as fiberglass or industrial fabrics.

The end caps are secured on the ends of the cloth roll by means of a plurality of integrally formed spur elements which are in the form of slits of V-like configuration. These slits are disposed about the outer periphery of the end caps and when the latter are placed in position on a cloth roll a simple operation of bending the spurs inwardly into the wood locks said end caps in position on said cloth rolls.

With the heavier and tighter weaves referred to above, the torque to which the cloth roll is subjected during the winding of fabric thereon is responsible for serious complaints on cloth roll failure and what is considered by weaving mills as a "much shorter life expectancy of said rolls than should be normally had.

The rotary forces to which these types of fabrics subject the cloth rolls to, are responsible for excessive wearing of the. end cap bearing surfaces as well as loosening the hold of the spur elements of the caps to the extent where the latter are torn loose and fail to perform their intended function.

The cloth roll according to the instant invention can be utilized for winding up any type of Woven fabric and the difficulties experienced with the forces of torque on cloth rolls of the prior art have been eliminated. This cloth roll utilizes bearing elements divorced from the caps which provides substantially increased bearing surfaces and the forces which formerly were responsible for loosening the caps now serve to hold said bearing elements more securely.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The cloth roll of the present invention is an elongated cylindrical member preferably of wood having a centrally disposed square opening extending therethrough. Each end of the roll includes a recess which traverses the diameter thereof and communicates with the square opening.

. Bearing insert members having a configuration conformmg to the recesses and opening are insertable into the. ends of the cloth roll and the end caps which encompass the ends of the rolls securely hold said bearing insert members in position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a loom showmg a cloth roll according to the invention applied thereto.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view in exploded form of one end of a cloth roll showing a bearing insert member and cap therefor.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawing wherein only as much of a conventional loom sttructure is depicted as is necessary for a complete understanding of the invention, there. is shown in FIG. 1 a portion of the right hand loom side at 10. The left hand loom side (not shown) is disposed in spaced relation and is interconnected to the right hand by the usual framework elements such as breast beam 11 and front girt 12.

Cloth roll stands 13 (R. H. only shown) are disposed inwardly and adjacent each loomside and are fixedly attached at their upper ends to the breast beam 11 as at 14. The lower ends of these cloth roll stands attach to the upper surface of the front gilt 12 by means of bolts 15.

Immediately below the breast beam 11, the cloth roll stands supoprts a shaft 16 which is driven in a known manner by the take-up mechanism of a loom (not shown) and supports intermediate its ends a take-up roll 17 which is adapted to advance newly woven fabric F as it is formed.

The fabric F after being advanced by the take-up roll 17 is caused to be wound upon a cloth roll generally indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2 by numeral 18. This cloth roll is rotated in timed relation to the take-up roll and a Well known drive means therefor is that of an interconnecting sprocket and drive chain arrangement which is partially shown and generally indicated in FIG. 1 by numeral 19.

The cloth roll is supported for rotation on opposed shafts 20 the outer end of one only being shown in FIG. 1. The inner ends of these shafts (not shown) are of a configuration which conforms to the inner shape of bearing insert members into which they are receivable and which will be more fully described hereinafter.

The cloth roll 18 is preferably formed from wood and includes a generally square centralized opening 21 (FIG. 2) extending therethrough. Each end of the roll (one only shown in FIG. 2) is slotted as at 22. These slots traverse the end diameters of the roll and communicate with the square opening 21 which extends therethrough.

A bearing insert member (FIG. 2) identified generally by numeral 23 having an outside configuration conforming to the combined shape of the opening 21 and slot 22 is insertable into the latter at each end of the roll. This bearing insert member is formed in two halves, an upper half 24 and a lower half 25 and are fixedly attached one to the other by any suitable means such as spot welding. The two bearing halves 24 and 25 form a single unit having an axially extending square bearing surface which is inserted the full depth of the slot 22.

The ends of the cloth roll are of a reduced diameter as shown at 26 in FIG. 2 and are adapted to receive thereon an end cap member 27. The end caps are provided with a plurality of spurs formed as V-like slits 28 about the outer peripheral surface thereof and when placed onto the end of the cloth roll, a simple operation of bending the pointed portion of the spurs inwardly into the wood, fixedly positions said caps thereon. These caps also hold the bearing insert members in their assembled position within the roll. The ends of the cap members include centrally disposed openings 29 and when in assembled poSitiOn are in axial alignment with the bearing insert members 23.

In operation the cloth roll is easily assembled into operating position by positioning the roll so that the spring biased support shaft is the first to be received into the bearing insert member. The roll is pushed slightly in the direction of this support shaft a sufficient amount to compress its spring then aligned with and moved in the direction of the opposite support shaft which is then allowed to be received by its respective bearing insert.

The bearing inserts are divorced from the end caps which hold them in position within the ends of the cloth roll and the forces of torque to which the caps bearing surfaces were subjected to in cloth rolls of the prior art have been eliminated. With the present invention these forces have no effect on the end caps and the life expectancy of the rolls is substantially increased.

While one embodiment of the invention has been dis closed, it is to be understood that the inventive concept may be carried out in a number of ways. This invention is, therefore, not to be limited to the precise details described, but is intended to embrace all variations and modifications thereof falling within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims.

We claim: I

1. In a loom having a cloth roll adapted to be rotated and to have fabric wound thereon which comprises an elongated cylindrical member with a centrally disposed and generally square opening extending, at least partially therethrough, the end of said roll including a recess extending transversely thereof and communicating with said square opening, a bearing insert member having a configuration confroming to said opening and recess and insertable therein, said insert member having a square unitary bearing surface extending axially the full depth of said recess, and an end cap member adapted to encompass the end of said cloth roll and to fixedly position said bearing insert member therein.

2. The cloth roll according to claim 1 wherein said end cap member includes a centrally disposed aperture in axial alignment with said bearing insert member for receiption of the means for rotating and supporting said cloth roll.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,385,418 7/1921 Ayers 24268.6 1,555,184 9/1925 Choate et a1. 24268.4 X 1,665,272 4/1928 Myers 24268.4 1,865,118 6/1932 Lindsjo 139307 1,881,911 10/1932 Parker 24268.6 2,491,917 12/ 1949 Brouwer et al. I 139304 X 3,117,740 1/1964 Rose 24268.4

FOREIGN PATENTS 883,278 7/1953 Germany.

JAMES KEE CHI, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 24268 .4 

